Liam Lawson took victory in an incident filled opening F3 race of the British Grand Prix weekend, surviving two safety cars and a crazy finish.
Lawson produced a stunning move round the outside of Stowe to overtake pole-sitter, Logan Sargeant at the end of the opening lap before calmly controlling the race until a dramatic finish.
A collision between Olli Caldwell, Max Fewtrell and Lukas Dunner at Vale at end of lap 16 meant that the race finished behind the safety car, although a late call saw the field take the checkered flag in the pits instead of on track.
Speaking post-race on his win, Lawson said; “It is definitely a step in the right direction, but we do still have a bit of work to do.”
Piastri finished second after seeing his rapid mid-race charge wiped out by two safety car periods, having overtaken Sargeant at Stowe on lap six to demote the American to an eventual third placed finish.
Great Britain’s Jake Hughes enjoyed a strong drive to finish fourth ahead of Frederik Vesti, Alex Peroni, Sebastian Fernandez, Clement Novalak, David Beckmann and Alexander Smolyar who will start on reverse grid pole tomorrow.
Piastri consequently now leads Sargeant by 25 points in the drivers’ standings as Lawson climbed to third and ended a three race run of retirements.
A strong start saw Sargeant make a clean getaway in the lead from Lawson whilst just behind the duo, Piastri and Fewtrell jostled for position with the latter eventually running wide at Village to ruin his race.
Lawson however had the initial better pace and swept around the outside of Stowe to snatch the lead from Sargeant, who tried keeping pace until Piastri eventually reeled him in with a move around outside of Stowe six laps later.
Piastri soon unleashed a charge on Lawson who produced quality defending to keep the championship leader behind him at end of lap 11, forcing Piastri airborne over the kerb on exit of Stowe before holding position through Vale.
Further down the field, Hughes overtook both Peroni and Vesti into Stowe on laps six and nine to secure fourth.
Lap 12 however saw the first safety car call after Bent Viscaal scrapped with Ben Barnicoat on exit of Woodcote, only to spin and collect Jack Doohan to send both slamming into the wall with Viscaal’s car rested on top of Doohan’s front wing.
Racing resumed on lap 16 with everyone holding position until Caldwell and Trident teammate, Lirim Zendeli battled over 13th position into Vale, with Zendeli winning out as Caldwell spun at Vale after a tap from Fewtrell.
Fewtrell pulled over to retire immediately as Caldwell was left stranded mid-corner and was violently hit by MP Motorsport’s Lukas Dunner, ripping the rear end away from the Trident car but both drivers walked away unscathed.
The race therefore finished behind the safety car but rather than drivers taking the flag on track as traditional, a late call saw them take the flag in the pit lane with Lawson demolishing the pit bollard as he dived into the pits at extremely short notice.
Race Result
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 20 | 43m 28.199 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | 20 | + 1.060 |
| 3 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 20 | + 2.698 |
| 4 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 5.127 |
| 5 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | 20 | + 9.087 |
| 6 | Alex Peroni | Campos | 20 | + 11.298 |
| 7 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | 20 | + 13.542 |
| 8 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | 20 | + 15.461 |
| 9 | David Beckmann | Trident | 20 | + 17.847 |
| 10 | Alexander Smolyar | ART GP | 20 | + 21.295 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 24.424 |
| 12 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 20 | + 30.609 |
| 13 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 20 | + 34.001 |
| 14 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | 20 | + 35.534 |
| 15 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | 20 | + 36.587 |
| 16 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | 20 | + 43.637 |
| 17 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | 20 | + 45.157 |
| 18 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 46.350 |
| 19 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | 20 | + 47.149 |
| 20 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | 20 | + 49.118 |
| 21 | Cameron Das | Carlin | 20 | + 50.073 |
| 22 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | 20 | + 51.724 |
| 23 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | 20 | + 55.015 |
| 24 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | 20 | + 1m 03.739 |
| 25 | David Schumacher | Charouz | 20 | + 1 Lap |
| 26 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | 15 | Collision |
| 27 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 15 | Collision |
| 28 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | 15 | Collision |
| 29 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | 11 | Collision |
| 30 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 11 | Collision |
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